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POLITICO 44

ROME— President Barack Obama’s concerted efforts to woo the Catholic Church—and its American voters—got a major boost Friday as he had his first face-to-face audience with Pope Benedict XVI.

“It’s a great honor to meet you, thank you so much,” Obama said as the men shook hands in a Vatican hallway.

As the two men sat down at a desk in the papal library, Obama joked about the swarm of photographers.

“I’m sure you’re used to having your picture taken…..and I’m getting used to it,” the president said, flashing a broad grin.

“You must be tired,” Pope Benedict said to the president.

Obama responded by saying his recent meetings at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila led to pledges of $20 billion in food aid for developing countries. “Which I thought was great progress,” Obama said as photographers were shooed out.

The two men met face-to-face in private for about 25 minutes.

Before the session got underway, top Obama introduced some of his top aides to the pontiff, including National Security Adviser Jim Jones, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, Deputy Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Senior Adviser David Axelrod. Television coverage showed Gibbs and McDonough kissing the pope’s ring. Axelrod simply shook hands and nodded.

As the pope met McDonough, Obama put in an extra plug for his adviser. “This is Denis McDonough. His brother is a priest,” the president said.

Michelle Obama, wearing a black veil over her hair, also greeted the pope. An official told a pool reporter that the Obamas daughters, Malia and Sasha, also met the religious leader.

In advance of the session, the White House made a series of moves to emphasize what they described as the president’s strong affinity for the Catholic Church. And Obama himself has spoken of the church having a “powerful” impact on his life, even though he is not a member.

“Given the influence of the Catholic Church globally, as well in the United States, and frankly, given the influence of the Catholic Church and Church social teaching on the president, himself, he recognizes that this is much more than your typical state visit,” McDonough said Thursday.

While Obama might well have expected a scolding from the pope over abortion, and perhaps his support for gay rights and the death penalty, the White House has been working assiduously to build a common agenda with the church on issues such as aid to the developing world, nuclear disarmament, and building ties with the Muslim world.

Obama has also sought to calm the disagreement on abortion by emphasizing adoption, discouraging teen sex, and promising to provide “robust” protections for doctors, nurses and pharmacists who refuse to provide abortion-related services.

While any direct appeal to the Catholic hierarchy inevitably draws attention to the abortion issue, White House advisers have concluded that the benefits of courting the church—and the pope—far outweigh any drawbacks.

“I think that there's a lot that they agree on that they'll get a chance to discuss,” Gibbs said. “There's certainly a lot of common ground.”

Even if Obama was criticized by the pope, the president’s respectful tone towards the church and the mere image of him side-by-side with the pontiff could redound to Obama’s benefit with Catholic voters, who are numerous in the Midwest swing states that could be key to Obama’s re-election in 2012.

Fran22 - Pro-Choice may be Anti-Abortion! The President is anti-abortion and works hard to 'decrease' the numbers of young women who would choose that path. So, you need to understand "Freedom" - IE- We choose our 'faiths' and the 'Tenets' thereof. (How many children of the 'Evil One' does your way spawn?)

Personal interest is "So, i don't see a reason to visit the pope, who cares?"

“Birth control,” [Margaret Sanger] declared in 1923, “is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, or preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives.” Her mission: to stop ”keeping alive thousands who never, in all human compassion, should have been brought into this world.”

The Pope will take Obama to task on abortion. Will Obama take the Pope to task over the hundreds of thousands of children abused by priests whose behavior was covered up by bishops, archbishops and cardinals? Recent revelations in Canada and Ireland about abuse by Catholic priests, monks, and nuns--85% of children in Church-run schools for Native Americans in Canada were abused; similar percentages for children in Catholic-run orphanages in Ireland--show just how pervasive Catholic clerical abuse is. Instead of always pointing the finger at others, the Catholic Church really needs to look in the mirror.

Frankly, it degrades Obama to be seen with these shysters and pederasts who seem more concerned with their own power than with anything remotely having to do with God or Jesus.

The Pope will take Obama to task on abortion. Will Obama take the Pope to task over the hundreds of thousands of children abused by priests whose behavior was covered up by bishops, archbishops and cardinals? Recent revelations in Canada and Ireland about abuse by Catholic priests, monks, and nuns--85% of children in Church-run schools for Native Americans in Canada were abused; similar percentages for children in Catholic-run orphanages in Ireland--show just how pervasive Catholic clerical abuse is. Instead of always pointing the finger at others, the Catholic Church really needs to look in the mirror.

You Betcha! Obama will be just as strong on that issue as he was with the Muslims and their degradation, torture and murder of women. A woman gets raped and she's gets killed as well for punishment. Date the wrong guy and she gets killed for family honor. Show to much anke in some countries and get beaten. Old men can marry pre teen girls without a word being said. How about the sweet tradition of the groom bringing the bloody rag from his virgin wife after consummating the marriage? No bloody rag, no virgin, marriage annulled. I think the Muslim (church?) needs to look in the mirror.

Don't see a lot of women converting to Islam do you? It sure has a draw for men though.

So a special meeting with the pope just another ploy to make us believe that Obama really cares what the Pope thinks this was nothing more than a free vacation for his whole family including his mother in law and all the extra security is down right discusting when so many people are out of work and loosing their homes he thinks like all the rest of the politations that the federal taxes are to be used as there own personal piggy bank.

“Birth control,” [Margaret Sanger] declared in 1923, “is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, or preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives.” Her mission: to stop ”keeping alive thousands who never, in all human compassion, should have been brought into this world.”

Hitler and Himmler had the same views and they were chastized for it.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933 one of the first acts Hitler did was to legalize abortion. By 1935 Germany with 65 million people was the place where over 500,000 abortions were being performed each year. Although Hitler and his government encourged Aryan women to produce a lot of children, he left the matter of abortion and all its facets in the hands of a decidely pro- abortion medical establishment. Even in the midst of Nazi propaganda aimed at increasing the Aryan population, scores of Aryan women still chose to abort their unborn children. The medical publication Deutsches Aerzleblatt reported the abortions in Germany each year reached a half-million.

Further, a Nazi decree of October 19, 1941 established abortion on demand as the official policy of Poland. Hitler, however, expressed dissatisfaction with this policy. Abortion, he believed, should NOT be limited to Poland. He therefore ordered that abortion be expanded to all populations under the control of the "Ministry of the Occupied Territories of the East."

On July 22, 1942, the Fuhrer exhibited a highly positive attitude towards abortion as an indispensable method of dealing with the non-German populations in countries under Nazi control. "In view of the large families of the native populations," he asserted, "it could only suit us if girls and women there had as many abortions as possible." Hitler also personally announced that he "would personally shoot" any "such idiot" who "tried to put into practice such an order (forbidding abortion) in the occupied Eastern territories.

Obama is trying to sway Catholic laity with this argument: give a few bucks to poor people and then you won't feel guilty about supporting abortion or gay marriage. Sadly, this argument works with many of today's "modern" Catholics who look for loopholes in Catholic theology.

Obama has no value for human life. You can count on Obama not joining a Catholic church in Washington. John Kerry was excommunicated for his enabling of the slaughtering of millions of human lives. Pope Benedict is going to have many more harsh words than kind ones for Obama.

As a catholic myself I am very happy our President, Barack Obama, gets to have an audience with the Pope, hopefully they discuss how to best fight poverty and climate change amongst other important topics.